Whitefriars, also known as the White Friars or The College of Carmelites,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, England, was a

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

friary of which nothing now survives.

History

The Friary was outside the north gate of the city and was founded around 1268 or 1269, probably by

Queen Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...

, Sir Thomas Gifford (or ''Giffard''), and Sir Thomas Berkeley. Fosbrooke, T.D. (1819) ''An Original History of the City of Gloucester''. Reprint, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1986, p. 150. By 1337 there were 31 friars resident. The Friary produced some important men, including Nicholas Cantelow (''Cantelupe of Gloucester'') and David Bois, but by the time of the dissolution of the monasteries the Friary had declined, having only three friars remaining. According to Fosbrooke, much of the Friary was destroyed about 1567, while materials from the buildings were used to fortify Gloucester during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. The founder's lodgings were converted to a barn during the war. During the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

, parts of the Friary had been used as the county House of Correction. The site became known as ''Friars' Ground''. In October 2020, part of the friary was found by archaeologists after Bruton Way multi-storey car park was demolished in 2019 as part of the Kings Quarter development.

History

See also

References

Further reading